Proud Arsenal carry the flag for England

Rarely can a goalless draw have glittered so enticingly. Arsenal grasped it to eliminate Real Madrid after a match in which failures to find the net only stoked the excitement. Arsène Wenger's team are the sole English survivors in the Champions League. That will not seem so very splendid an isolation to the Premiership office-bearers, who have now seen Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton all fall out of the competition. For the victors, though, it will feel like proof of their distinction.

This joyous success confirms that the club has regrouped over the course of a trying season. Arsenal did not defend by design, but the crowd still gasped deep in stoppage time when Jens Lehmann made what was actually a standard save from the substitute Robinho. Real could not help but prove, yet again, that they bear just the remnants of greatness nowadays. Only a dimming recollection of former glories remains and that was not enough to overcome age and mental fatigue.

Arsenal might have won here, as they had in Madrid, but Iker Casillas pulled off a fingertip save from Thierry Henry after 74 minutes. The goalkeeper was also to be caught upfield when he advanced for a corner in the 90th minute and Robert Pires, who had come on for José Antonio Reyes, almost found the unattended net from inside his own half, but Roberto Carlos got back to clear.

There was just one moment when Arsenal sensed their own mortality, shuddered and then drew renewed strength from their survival. After an hour, Raúl fired against the post from a David Beckham header and then tried to convert the rebound with a stylish finish, but Lehmann, still scrambling to get back on his feet, flicked out a hand and turned the ball behind. Such an event becomes an omen of glory for footballers.

This is an Arsenal team in the throes of development and the young back four has been thrown together by circumstance, but they kept a clean sheet across both legs of the tie and not even Lauren, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole at their absolute peak could have done more. The absentees will wince at having missed an intense occasion that glowed with the sense of history being made.

It had a double identity. This tie was the first competitive meeting between the clubs and there was a desire at Arsenal to ensure that the game did not prove also to be the final European fixture at Highbury before the summer move to the new Ashburton Grove ground.

Wenger had not made too much of victory at the Bernabéu. He was right to conclude that the main significance of that result was the guarantee that Real would be even more committed to attack. So it proved in an gripping match, with Ronaldo indicating for a brief spell that a set of scales is not necessarily the best way to gauge the substance of a striker.

He may have put on more weight than ever but that did not stop him from tiptoeing into space at the far post to meet Thomas Gravesen's cross in the third minute. Only Ronaldo's decision-making was at fault as he tried to squeeze his header in at the near post. Lehmann turned the ball behind.

The danger was marked again after 15 minutes as Ronaldo seemed to have broken clear until Gilberto Silva made a wonderful tackle from behind inside the penalty area to stifle the threat.

Ronaldo, however, faded rapidly and his continuing presence on the field to the despondent end was an indictment of a club where status matters more than merit. Real have the air of an old team and they did not possess the stamina or speed to bombard Arsenal. Minds too must have become weary with the mounting years because there was not even the imagination once identified with them.

Real were the side under an obligation to attack, but it is in Arsenal's nature to take the initiative as well. After 19 minutes, Henry combined with Alexander Hleb before Freddie Ljungberg helped the ball on to Cesc Fábregas and the Spaniard's finish was deflected behind. With half an hour gone, Hleb fed Henry and though he was fleetingly halted by Raúl Bravo the Arsenal captain still cut the ball back for Reyes to have a drive that was blocked by Michel Salgado.

Brightly as Real had started, they did not have the youthful zest to sustain pressure. Arsenal came closest to scoring two minutes from the interval. Sergio Ramos could not clear and Henry accepted the invitation to draw more defenders before slipping a pass across to Reyes. From an angle, he shot against the bar.

Perhaps conscious of the delicate condition of the tie, Arsenal were to go through a hesitant period. Kolo Touré, however, advanced to set an example in the 68th minute when he met a clearance at the edge of the area and drove wide.

That episode raised the spirits and Arsenal knew how to rally themselves whenever morale might have sagged in this tie. The pride they will take in this result should also nourish the team in the weeks to come, no matter what the quarter-final draw may bring.